IN HARMONY WITH THE doctrine of election and reprobation, and
limited atonement, and the unconditional salvation of all those
for whom the atonement was made, is the doctrine of effectual
calling and its cognates, which we shall now proceed to notice.
Upon this point Calvinist deliver themselves with unusual freedom
and plenitude. A selection from them will set the matter in a
proper light.

All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and
those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time,
effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state
of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and
salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds,
spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God;
taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart
of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by his almighty power,
determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing
them Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made
willing by this grace. This effectual call is of God's free and
special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man,
who is altogether passive therein, until being quickened and
renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer
this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.

What is effectual calling?

Effectual calling is the work of God's almighty power
and grace, whereby, out of his free and especial love to his
elect, and from nothing in them moving him thereunto, he doth,
in his accepted time, invite and draw them unto Jesus Christ by
his Word and Spirit, savingly enlightening their minds,
renewing and powerfully determining their wills, so as they,
although in themselves dead in sin, are hereby made willing and
able freely to answer this call, and to accept and embrace the
grace offered and conveyed therein.

Are the elect only effectually called?

All the elect and they only, are effectually called,
although others may be, and often are, outwardly called by the
ministry of the Word, and have common operations of the Spirit,
who, for their willful neglect and contempt of the grace
offered to them, being justly left in their unbelief, do never
truly come to Jesus Christ.

The expositor of the Confession, in his comments upon the
sections above, remarks, "That in this calling the operations of
the Holy Spirit are irrevocable." We admit that there are common
operations of the Spirit, which do not issue in the conversion of
the sinner; but we maintain that the special operations of the
Spirit overcome all opposition and effectually determine the
sinner to embrace Jesus Christ as he is offered in the Gospel. If
the special operations of the Spirit were not invincible, but
might be effectually resisted, then it would be uncertain whether
any would believe or not, and consequently possible, that all
which Christ had done and suffered in the work of redemption might
have been done and suffered in vain.

That in this calling the sinner is altogether passive,
until he is quickened and renewed by the Holy Ghost.

We are made partakers of the benefits which Christ hath
procured, by the application of them to us, which is the work
especially of God the Holy Ghost.

Redemption is certainly applied, and effectually
communicated, to all those for whom Christ hath purchased
it.

In regeneration we are passive, and receive from God: it is
an irresistible, rather. an invincible work?

The power of God, exerted in regeneration and conversion of
sinners is invincible. Those who speak of irresistible grace,
mean that it cannot finally be resisted; that it will overcome
all the efforts of corrupt nature to counteract its design; and
that it will ultimately render sinners obedient to the faith.
must submit in the end to the power of God; and this will be
more evident if we consider that his power is not only
sufficient to compel the most refractory to yield, although
with the greatest reluctance, but that it can take away the
spirit of opposition, and so influence the hearts of men, that
this submission shall be voluntary. Were we to say that the
grace of God is not invincible, we should be under the
necessity of adopting the opinion which we have already proved
to be unscriptural, that there is in man a power to comply or
not to comply with the call of the Gospel. We should take the
work of conversion out of the hand of God, and commit it to man
himself. After God had done all that he could do for our
salvation, it would depend upon ourselves whether the intended
effect should follow.

According to the Scriptures, regeneration is a change,
effected by divine grace, in the state of the soul--the
supernatural renovation of its faculties--the infusion of a
principle of spiritual life. It is evident that if this is a
just definition, the sinner is passive.

In opposition to all the mystifications of error upon this
point, we affirm that conversion is effected by the almighty
grace of God; that, although man does not concur in it, he is,
in the first instance passive, and his concurrence is the
consequence of supernatural power communicated to him; and that
he does not come to God till he is effectually called, by the
operation of the Holy Spirit in his soul.

The first immediate fruit of eternal election, and the
principal act of God, by which appointed salvation is applied,
is effectual calling. And this calling is that act by which
those who are chosen by God, and redeemed by Christ, are
sweetly invited and effectually brought from a state of sin to
a state of communion with God in Christ, both externally and
internally.

But this call is given partly externally, by a persuasive
power called moral suasion; partly internally, by a real,
supernatural efficacy, which changes the heart. The external
call is, in some measure, published by the word of nature; but
more fully by that of supernatural revelation, without which
every word of nature would be insufficient and ineffectual. The
internal comes from the power of the Holy Spirit, working
inwardly on the heart; and without this, every external,
revealed Word, though objectively very sufficient, as it
clearly discovers everything to be known, believed, and done,
yet is subjectively ineffectual, nor will ever bring any person
to the communion of Christ.

By that same Word, whereby the elect are called to communion
with God and his Christ, they are also regenerated to a far
more excellent life.

Regeneration is that supernatural act of God whereby a new
and divine life is infused into the elect person spiritually
dead, and that from the incorruptible seed of the Word of God,
made fruitful by the infinite power of the Spirit.

If we consider this first principle of life, there is not
the least doubt but regeneration is accomplished in a moment;
for there is no delay in the transition from death to life. No
person can be regenerated so long as he is in the state of
spiritual death; but in the instant he is, he begins to
live--he is born again. Wherefore, no intermediate state
between the regenerate and unregenerate can be imagined, so
much as in thought.

Hence, it appears, there are no preparations antecedent to
the first beginning of regeneration; because, previous to that,
nothing but mere death, in the highest degree, is to be found
in the person to be regenerated. And, indeed, the Scripture
represents man's conversion by such similitudes as show that
all preparations are entirely excluded.

You will say, then, are there no preparatory dispositions to
the first regeneration? I confessedly answer, there are
none--agree with Fulgentius.

With respect to the birth of a child, the work of God is
previous to any will the person that comes into the world; so
in the spiritual birth, whereby we begin to put off the old
man.

And this is that regeneration which is so much declared in
the Scriptures--a new creation--a resurrection from the dead--a
giving of life, which God, without us, worketh in us. And this
is by no means effected by the doctrine alone sounding without,
by moral suasion, or by such a mode of working, that, after the
operation of God, it should remain in the power of man to be
regenerated or not regenerated, converted or not converted, but
is manifestly an operation supernatural, at the same time most
powerful, and most sweet, wonderful, secret, and infallible in
its power, according to the Scriptures, not less than or
inferior to creation or the resurrection of the dead; so that
all those, in whose hearts God works in this admirable manner,
are certainly, infallibly, and efficaciously regenerated, and,
in fact, believe. And thus their will, being now renewed, is
not only influenced and moved by God, but, being acted on by
God, itself acts and moves.

The power of God exerted in regeneration is invincible. We
do not deny that the grace of God may be resisted, not only by
the finally impenitent, but by those who ultimately yield to
it; but, in the end, man must yield to the power of divine
grace; because his power is sufficient to subdue the most
stubborn will, to remove all opposition, and to influence the
hearts of men, that they, at last, yield voluntary submission,
without compulsion or force exerted upon their minds. In
regeneration, in the moment of the act, the soul is
passive.

As the child is passive in generation, so is the child of
God in regeneration. Regeneration is an irresistible, or,
rather, an invincible work of grace.

In regeneration we are passive, and receive from God.

Without multiplying authorities, for the above are sufficient
for all our purposes, we shall now proceed to deduce a statement
of doctrine, and then set forth our objections.

And from the above, we derive as the faith of Calvinists upon
the subjects of effectual calling, irresistible grace, and
regeneration (These subjects were blended because in the Calvinian
system they constitute essentially but one branch of doctrine, as
the above quotations abundantly show. Whatever may be their shades
of difference and divers ramifications, they spring from one
identical principle and its cognates--to all intents and purposes
they are the same.)

1. That up to the moment of effectual calling--regeneration--a
man cannot cease from sin; he has not the power to do so.

2. None but the elect ever are effectually
called--regenerated.

3. When the elect are effectually called, they cannot help but
yield; they have no power to resist.

4. This effectual call is sent upon the elect without any
conditions or preparation on their part.

Now to the doctrine thus summed up--and no Calvinist dare
dispute any point included in it--I shall proceed to allege a
number of objections; and it will be with the good sense and
candor of my readers, to decide whether they constitute sufficient
reasons for discarding the doctrine.

1. I object to this doctrine that it is anti-scriptural,
nowhere taught in the Word of God, and contradictory to much that
is therein taught: as that salvation is conditional--that all may
seek and find--that they are criminal who do not seek--that many
are lost who might have been saved--that the Spirit may be
resisted--that repentance and faith precede regeneration--indeed,
the doctrine is in palpable conflict with the whole tenor of
revelation. This is one objection.

2. But, further, I object, that if regeneration is the work of
irresistible grace, wrought without previous conditions, then they
who are not regenerated, are not to be condemned for remaining
unregenerate. It is attributable to no fault in them, and so
cannot render them blameworthy, because it is a matter with which
they have nothing whatever to do. It is God's work, and not theirs
in any sense; they are passive entirely, from beginning to end;
and so, if there be any wrong in their remaining unregenerate, the
wrong is not in them, because it is not by their consent.

But if it be said the wrong is not in their remaining
unregenerate, but in their being so in the first instance, then, I
reply, neither are they to blame for this, because it, also, was
entirely, without their consent. They were born corrupt, and so
cannot be guilty for this; they cannot escape from corruption, and
so are not guilty for remaining in it; and, therefore, they have
no guilt whatever because of their corruption. From this reasoning
there is no escape, but an assumption that men are absolutely and
damnably guilty for that over which they have not now, and never
did have, any control. Believe this who can! But let my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth before I can so calumniate the
adorable Jehovah!

3. If the doctrine be true, men are not to be condemned for
actual sin unless they are condemnable for not avoiding that which
they never had power to avoid. For they were brought into the
world with a corrupt nature, without any consent of theirs, unless
they consented before they had an existence; and being thus born,
they never could cease from sin without regeneration; and they
never had power to promote or secure regeneration, and so are not
to be condemned for the sins they commit prior to regeneration,
unless they are to be condemned for an absolute impossibility.

4. If this doctrine be true, then they who are not regenerate
not only are not to be condemned for not being regenerate, and for
actual sins committed prior to regeneration, but, also, they
cannot be required to be holy in heart or in life, unless it is
assumed that men may justly be required to do what they never had,
and have not, the power to do. If they do not do right, they
violate no requirement, but a requirement to perform an
impossibility, which is the requirement of an abhorrent, despot,
and not of the glorious Jehovah.

5. If this doctrine be true, there can be no punishment for
either depravity or sin, unless men are punishable for not
performing impossibilities. If men are finally punished with
eternal torments, then they are punished without any cause on
their part, but simply that they did not do what it was eternally
impossible for them to do. They are punished for impenitence and
unbelief; but impenitence and unbelief are the unavoidable fruit
of a corrupt nature; from this corruption there is no deliverance
but by regeneration; man has no power to regenerate himself, and
he can do nothing to induce God to regenerate him: he is,
therefore, damned in hell forever, for that over which he had no
more control than the angel Gabriel. Think of hell! Then think of
such a fate! Can God be chargeable with such a government and
conduct as this?

6. If the doctrine be true, then men cannot be required to do
anything to promote their salvation; for their salvation is not
susceptible of being promoted, as it is unconditional. In
salvation man is not a co-agent, but a mere passive subject. Until
the work is commenced by irresistible regeneration, he can do
nothing but sin. When regeneration takes place, all the rest
follows as a necessary effect or unavoidable fruit.

7. They cannot with any propriety, be invited or exhorted to
repent and seek God; for the thing is impossible; and to invite or
exhort men to perform an impossibility, is trifling--is nonsense.
A Calvinistic minister who believes that up to the moment of
regeneration a man cannot repent and turn to God--and who also
believes that regeneration is a gift of God without conditions,
and, also, that when regeneration is given, men must repent--and
yet urges, and invites, and implores men to repent and turn to
God, must be accounted guilty of the strangest inconsistency, to
say the least of it.

8. They cannot with any propriety be required to do one thing
rather than another, before regeneration, only as one sin is
preferable to another; for whatever they do must be sinful.
Nothing that a man can do before regeneration is good; it is all
sin. If he prays for the forgiveness of his sins, it only
increases them. If he observes the Sabbath, if he reads the
Scriptures, if he goes to the house of God, if he fasts, and
mourns, and humbles himself before God, it is all sin. But, it is
said, a man cannot do these things until regenerated: but that is
precisely my proposition; he can do nothing but sin, and cannot
turn away from it any more than he can create a universe--cannot
even try. Why, then, ask him or labor with him upon the
subject?

9. If this be true, then it must be that God prefers that the
elect should commit a great deal of sin before they are
regenerated. For their regeneration is his work; he can do it one
time as well as another; for it is by irresistible grace, and
against the sinner's disposition, whenever it is done; and that he
leaves them unregenerate a long term of years, must be because, on
the whole, he prefers that during this period they should be
unregenerate and sinful, rather than regenerate and holy.

10. Yea, more: if this doctrine be true, God must prefer all
the impenitence, and unbelief, and sin, that is in the world. For
if regeneration is his work alone, independent of all conditions
and if regeneration would produce holiness, then the reason why
the world remains unregenerate and unholy must be, that, on the
whole, God prefers it. He prefers that it should be as it is, or
he would make it otherwise. There is no other reason but his
preference; for a sufficient atonement has been made to remove all
impediments out of the way, so far as divine justice is concerned;
and in the creature there is nothing but what might be overcome by
irresistible grace. That such grace is not exerted, is of the good
pleasure of God alone; and this good pleasure must arise from the
fact, that, in view of all things, God prefers the final
impenitence and unholiness of some persons to their holiness, and
their eternal destruction to their everlasting salvation.

11. If this doctrine be true, man is not a free agent in
consenting to salvation, or yet in refusing to consent; because in
the former case the will is irresistibly coerced to its choice; in
the latter it has no ability to make a contrary election. In both
cases it acts under an irresistible agency. For if the soul, under
the influence of the effectual call, retains its freedom, it has
power to resist; but then the call would not be irresistible; but
if it has no power to resist, but must necessarily choose, then it
is not free. And if without the effectual call it might choose
life, then without the effectual call it might be saved; but if it
has not the power, then it is not free.

12. I object to this doctrine because it antagonizes the
doctrine of salvation by faith, and makes faith an involuntary
exercise--these both. Is not regeneration salvation from
depravity? and is it not the work of salvation commenced in the
soul? If so, and if regeneration precedes faith, is it not
inevitable that faith is not a condition to salvation to this
extent? And if faith is a necessary effect of regeneration, can it
be a voluntary exercise? And if it is not a voluntary exercise,
can it, with any propriety, be called a condition of anything
which follows after it? And, particularly, can men be exhorted to
its exercise, as though it were a condition to which they are
competent?

Can a regenerate person be lost? If not, regeneration itself
infallibly secures salvation, with all that is included therein.
And if it does secure salvation, how can anything which comes
after it be called a condition of salvation. Must not everything
following after rather be said to be included in salvation

13. I object to this doctrine, further, that it not only makes
salvation an involuntary and unconditional work, but it also does
away with repentance entirely. Look at it soberly and see if it is
not a shocking misrepresentation, not only of the particular
teachings and general tone of the Bible, but, also, of all
experience. There is a man who, up to this moment, is a sinner;
and now, without any conviction or turning of heart to God, or any
use of means, while his heart is proud, and stubborn, and sinful
as ever, he is in one instant, by irresistible grace, born of God;
in the same instant he is justified; but preceding his
justification and succeeding his regeneration, he exercises faith
and repentance! Now, I ask, in the name of reason and religion is
this so? Will the world furnish one solitary witness to an
experience of this kind?

14. According to this doctrine, a Christian is no more to be
esteemed for his virtues, than a sinner for his sins; and the
latter is no more to be censured than the former; because they are
both passive, and only passive, with respect alike to their sins
and virtues: the only difference between them is produced by
irresistible fate. Indeed the whole system of Calvinism, in its
peculiar tenets, inevitably destroys both the accountability of
man and the distinctions between vice and virtue. If one man is
irresistible. and invincibly drawn to a holy life, and another man
is equally irresistibly drawn to an unholy and sinful conduct, and
this without anything under their control, it must be manifest,
that, though there is a difference, it may be both in the
character and conduct of the individuals: yet they are neither
commendable nor censurable, or, indeed, in any sense responsible
for the difference.

Yea, further, does not Calvinism also teach, not only that men
are entirely passive in their sites and actions, but that in their
sins as much as in their most holy exercises they actually perform
the will of God. The will of God, according to their teaching,
cannot in anything be frustrated. Nothing comes to pass but that
he willed it. The devil does his will as much as the archangel.
Where is the difference? In what is the one more approvable or
censurable than the other? Is this one to be damned? Why? Did he
not do the will of God? Did he do anything more or less than in
the will of God was purposed before the foundation of the world?
Is he damned for doing the will of God? He is damned for sinning;
but that very sin was the will of God? God willed him to do it--he
but complied, accomplished what his Maker wished him to do, what
it was not only impossible he should avoid, but what, if he had
avoided, would have been a breach of his Maker's will--the
damnable sin!

O sir, what dreadful work this kind of stuff makes with the
character and reputation of God! Do you find no difficulties upon
these points? Then must you be blind indeed! Consult your own
experience--interrogate your consciousness; it will teach you
better. You will find beyond any power to convince you to the
contrary that you believe that a change in your character and life
was not wrought without your consent--that your consent was not
produced by irresistible power. You will find that your
recollection of repentance is that you repented long and deeply
with tears and sorrow before you found forgiveness--that this
repentance was attended with a distressing sense of both unpurged
corruption and unremoved condemnation. If any man had asked you
then whether your vile nature was changed--regenerated--or not,
what would have been your answer? That you were not only
unpardoned, but vile! A change indeed had been wrought--but not
the change of nature--making you a child of God.

Such is the testimony of your experience: every step is fresh
in your memory; you can never forget it. By some instrument, it
matters not what, where, or when, your mind was arrested: truth
flashed upon your guilty conscience; you saw and admitted it. A
simple conviction of your utter sinfulness was the result. You
pondered what to do. A struggle, and you determined to seek for
life. What next? You now began seriously to reflect--you betook
yourself to the Bible, or to some religious friend--you prayed.
Your sense of guilt and wretchedness increased. How bitter now was
the mingled cup of your sorrow! You repented before God, did you
not? You struggled on, through doubts and fears, now ready to lay
hold by faith, then sinking into deep despair! At last, in the
utmost extremity, forgetting all, by a mighty exertion, you
embraced the atoning sacrifice--you believed. Do you not recollect
it? Was it not so? Then came rest! You saw it--you felt it--you
realized it; no earthly power could convince you to the contrary;
believing you were a new man in Christ Jesus, and had now no
condemnation. I appeal to every Christian, was it not so? Your
experience, then, as well as God's Word, and the voice of reason,
are against the dogma we here oppose.

Much more might be said, to show the danger of the error under
examination--how it destroys all sense of obligation--how it
contents the sinner in his sins--how it neutralizes all
effort--how it shields the conscience from all appeals and
exhortations; but all this must be present to the reflecting and
considerate reader. In view of them, let him hesitate; nay, let
him promptly throw from him an unsupported dogma, fraught with
such deadly influences. Let no cherished prejudices--no long
attachments, cause him to deal compassionately with the dangerous
delusion. It deserves no mercy; let it find none. Let the mind
always contemplate it naked; its deformities will make it
sufficiently detestable. It is only when it is cloaked and masked
that it has attractions; when seen in its native and real
character, with its consorts and relatives, it will be
sufficiently hideous; no mind will admit it. It will stand,
without, with its kindred errors, equally execrated by reason and
religion, by the voice of God, and the instinct of mankind. Dear
reader, may we be guided by the infinite Spirit into all
truth!